Only 15% of Irish employers say they expect to hire more people during the third quarter of this year, according to the latest survey from recruitment group Manpower Ireland.
This is down nine points on the same period last year and down five points on the previous quarter.
4% of the 665 employers surveyed expect to reduce their workforce while 81% anticipate no change.
The weakest sector in the survey was finance, insurance, property services and business services, where just 2% employers intended to hire more staff. The strongest sector was transport, storage and communications with 27%.
